


Changes

by MisteryMaiden



Series: And It All Comes Crashing Down [7]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Chloe Decker Finds Out, Everybody loves Trixie Espinoza, F/M, Gen, Hurt Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Hurt/Comfort, Protective Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Protective Mazikeen (Lucifer TV), Protective Michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:15:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisteryMaiden/pseuds/MisteryMaiden
Summary: The world knows that the Devil lives in LA. LA begins to deal with that.
Relationships: Amenadiel & Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Trixie Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar
Series: And It All Comes Crashing Down [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654117
Comments: 35
Kudos: 447





	Changes

_The Devil Among Us_

_I think I’m not the only one when I say that the last few weeks has thrown me. Starting with the appearance of William Kinley as a statue to eight days ago, when the angel Amenadiel appeared to each government around the world to establish contact with humanity._

_The announcement of the LAPD to continue employing Lucifer Morningstar, revealed to be the literal Devil, is just another bullet point on the list of insanity that has over swept the world. Despite everything else that has been happening, the LAPD’s press conference remains one of the most controversial decisions to have ever taken place within Los Angeles, California._

_There have been many articles that have criticized the LAPD’s decision. Some have been demanding that the governor get involved and put a stop to it. There have been people sending threatening letters to the station, trying to get them to change their minds. The most surprising part isn’t the protests, it’s the fact that only 5 percent of the total occupants of LA are protesting the decision._

_95 percent of the citizens of LA are pleased with the decision to keep Lucifer Morningstar on as a consultant with the LAPD. A slew of families connected to the cases that Lucifer Morningstar consulted on has come out to praise the LAPD for keeping him on. The amount of support that Mr. Morningstar has been receiving has many baffled. After all, the man has been confirmed to be the literal Devil._

_To answer the questions that have arisen in response to Lucifer Morningstar, I’ve decided to investigate matters further. My first stop was to interview a member of the LAPD. One of the very officers that were assigned to the Missing Priest case, Detective James Edwards._

_“I prefer Jimmy,” the man in question informed me. “I’m more than willing to answer any questions that you might have. In fact, I’ve been given permission to answer anything regarding this case.”_

_What were your thoughts when you were first given the case?_

_“Besides swearing?” Detective Edwards sighed. “I thought for sure that we were going to have a religious serial killer. The ash piles had all been matched with the missing priests and there wasn’t enough ash there to be from an entire human body. At that point, no one had been able to connect the priests to each other. We had no leads and no way to figure out what happened. As far as I could see, it was going to turn into another cold case that would haunt us for years to come.”_

_What first made you connect the priests to William Kinley?_

_“That was harder,” Edwards told me. “Kinley covered his tracks well. He used a different name for his hotel and paid for three months upon check-in. Not even the rental car that he used was under his own name. The fact of the matter is that until we tracked down that warehouse, we had no way to connect the two events. If not for the earthquakes and sudden storm, we might not have even had a reason to think the two events were connected.”_

_What made you keep looking into Kinley if you had no real reason to think he was involved?_

_“Instinct.” The Detective said. “If you do this job long enough, you start developing instincts. Everything told me that the priests were somehow connected to Kinley. LA doesn’t just get sudden storms like that. Earthquakes at the same time? That’s another flag. Then scientists couldn’t find any evidence or explanation for it? Storms don’t just appear out of nowhere every day. And there wasn’t a single fault around that was causing the earthquake. As far as anyone could tell, there just wasn’t a reason for it.”_

_“Then we get twelve priests reported missing and we find twelve piles of human ash. All of them reported last seen the same day that an earthquake came from nothing and a storm materialized out of thin air above LA. Honestly, what were the odds that a Vatican official was turned to stone by God on the same day and wasn’t connected to what was happening here?”_

_You make a good point. How did that lead you to connecting Lucifer Morningstar to it all?_

_“HA!” Detective Edwards laughed. “The thing you need to know is that Morningstar has never been quiet about who he was. He’s not been subtle either. More than a few of us have witnessed him do something that should have been impossible. Of course, we brushed it off at the time. What were the odds that the literal Devil was working of the LAPD? Still, we knew that something was different about him.”_

_“That meant when we got word that he’d be unreachable for a few weeks after dealing with a break-in, we were concerned. Worse, the break-in was on the same night that we figured our priests were killed. No one had seen or heard from Morningstar himself, this was all coming from a third party. A man claiming to be the literal Devil disappearing on the same day God decided to smite a bunch of priests? How could we not connect the dots?” Edwards shook his head. “Honestly, we were hoping we were wrong. It wasn’t until we found the warehouse and Kinley’s rental that we had our suspicions confirmed. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures?”_

_The pictures in question were aired during the LAPD’s press conference. They show a very graphic crime scene and I will not be adding them to this article. I suggest that readers make their own decisions before seeking out the pictures as they are very, very graphic, and could cause emotional distress._

_“All that blood tested positive for the DNA we had on file for Morningstar,” Edwards told me, face grim. “There were shackles in the rental that had his prints on them. They were only on the shackles. At that point, there really wasn’t any way for use to continue in denial. That amount of blood loss usually has us looking for a body. If Morningstar had been human, there would have been no way that he wasn’t dead.”_

_How did you feel when you realized that your coworker was the literal Devil?_

_“Truthfully? Everything made a lot more sense,” the Detective laughed. “The one thing you should know is that Morningstar doesn’t lie. He might actually be the worst liar I’ve ever met. There were a few times we used him on undercover assignments, and it was probably the most painful thing I’d ever watched. Whoever decided Satan was the Prince of Lies has never seen spoken to the man. He can dodge the truth like a pro, don’t get me wrong, but he can’t tell a lie to save his life. The fact that he kept insisting that he was the real Devil probably should have clued us in, no matter how absurd it seemed.”_

_Do you agree with the decision to keep him employed?_

_“We all do,” the Detective said firmly. “Morningstar is the best consultant we’ve ever had. There isn’t a language that he doesn’t speak. We haven’t needed to call a translator in for months. He’s the best interrogator that we have, honestly. Even without whatever he does that scares the shit out of people. Do you know how many times the man has sweat talked a confession out of a suspect? We thought it was just a scarily accurate mind trick before we learned that he really is. That’s not even going into the number of connections that he has.”_

_Do you think there’s any truth to the stories about the Devil?_

_“About the same amount of truth that stories published by TMV have,” Edwards snorted. “I’ve already told you about the lies thing. And if you value your ears, don’t get him started on the goats. I’ve never met anyone who hates goats as much as Morningstar does. And there is not a single doubt in my mind that the man has never forced anyone to do anything. I’m sure there’s not a person in LA that couldn’t tell you that. Man is big on Free Will.”_

_What about the Rebellion?_

_Edwards shrugged. “I’m pretty sure there’s some truth to that. I doubt that it had anything to do with taking over Heaven. Morningstar bolts at the first sign of anything to do with the administration of anything. Never seen anyone run faster then he does whenever you even say the word ‘paperwork’. Refusing to do what he’s told? That’s pretty in character. You want Morningstar to do something, you better have prepared a sound argument to convince him or bribe him with some form of sugar to get him to do it. The rest of it? You’d have to ask him or one of the other four angels we’ve got running around LA now.”_

_Is there anything else that people should know about Morningstar?_

_“I’d forget most of what you know about the Devil,” Edwards said, frankly. “Whatever you think you know, the reality is much, much different.”_

_After talking to Detective Edwards, I was a lot more interested in what the truth about Lucifer Morningstar really was. There were things that weren’t lining up with what we, as a society, have always heard about the Devil._

_I was a little apprehensive but later that night, I went to LUX in search of answers._

_I was surprised to find that I was more than welcome. The moment I approached the bouncer at the door for an interview, he was more than happy to talk to me. He introduced himself as Patrick Manning._

_What’s it like working at LUX?_

_“It’s probably one of the best jobs I’ve ever had,” he told me. “I’ve got full benefits, I’m paid more than any other night club in town offers their employees, and I get full pay sick days. I first applied here as a temporary job while I applied to other places. That was about five years ago and I don’t see myself really leaving anytime soon.”_

_Were you shocked when your boss was confirmed to be the Devil?_

_“Not really,” Mr. Manning replied. “I’ve seen him do some really out-there things, man. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get drunk even after drinking a few bottles of hardcore vodka. And there are times when I’ll look away from a second and he’ll have just vanished. I’m pretty sure we all knew that he was telling the truth a while ago.”_

_Have there been any changes since Mr. Morningstar was confirmed to be the real Devil?_

_“Not in the way that you would think,” Mr. Manning laughed. “If anything, we’re busier than we’ve ever been. Somehow, having the literal Devil performing every night is a big draw to people. We’ve had the odd Satanist here and there, but we mostly keep that lot out. Boss wants nothing to do with them. Other than that, it’s business as usual.”_

_What did you think when you learned your boss was consulting with the LAPD?_

_“I was surprised at first,” Mr. Manning shrugged. “Boss had a few bad run-ins with some cops in the past, so I was a bit surprised that he decided to consult. I guess that something happened to change his opinion of them. Probably the cases with Delilah, honestly. They really handled that one right and next thing I know, the boss is consulting for them. Not what I really pictured when I first learned about the Devil, that’s for sure.”_

_What do you think about the stories that are told about the Devil? Do you think that there’s any truth to them?_

_“That one about deals is close,” he said after a moment of thought. “Not the souls’ part, that’s definitely not true. The boss deals in exchanges. He does you a favor, you owe him a favor in return. Always something of equal value. You ask for information, then that’s what he’ll ask you for.”_

_Mr. Manning sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know about the rest. I’m pretty sure that there’s probably some truth to the Rebellion story, at least. He’s never denied it and the boss doesn’t lie. In the five years that I’ve worked here, I’ve never heard him lie even once. So that’s probably somewhat true. The rest? I think they’re mostly hearsay.”_

_The rest of the staff was more than happy to talk to me. With every person, I heard the exact same thing that I had from Mr. Manning and Detective Edwards. There might be some truth to parts of the stories, yet they mostly considered them works of fiction. The picture of who Lucifer Morningstar was, wasn’t anything like the media depicted the Devil to be._

_From the eyes of the people that he works with, it’s clear that Lucifer Morningstar doesn’t appear to be a threat to humanity. In the time that he’s been on Earth, the only death attributed to Mr. Morningstar is that of Marcus Pierce, former lieutenant of the LAPD homicide division who has since been identified as Cain, the first murderer. Even without being named as a dignitary by God himself, I think that the world can safely assume the Lucifer Morningstar is not the source of all evil. An evil being would not be working as a consultant for the LAPD, for one. Evil wouldn’t care that his employees were paid enough or make sure that they have full benefits. Most of the nightclubs around LA don’t offer anything near what I’ve seen the employee at LUX be given._

_The world might still be reeling from the sudden appearance of celestials among us, we might still not fully understand what to expect now that God has shown himself, but I think that humanity just might learn a few things about our own past in the process._

* * *

Maze didn’t know what to expect when she was asked to come in by Olivia Monroe.

Linda seemed to think that it wasn’t going to be anything bad, considering that the LAPD had been pretty cool about Lucifer being the Devil.

Maze was skeptical. Lucifer was also an Archangel that had been named a dignitary by God. That alone would have soothed some worries over having the literal Devil working with you.

Mazikeen, however, was a demon. She had always been a demon. She was the daughter of Lilith, creator of demons and mother of the Lilim, the first wife of Adam that had turned her back on God. There was not prettying up Maze’s origin. Even if God had given her pass to the Silver City, these humans didn’t know that. Maze didn’t want them to know that either. For some strange reason, one that she was probably going to have to ask Linda about, Maze wanted them to accept her without God being a factor.

When she was greeted at the door with a wave by Richards, who was the secretary, Maze felt something relax within her. With every greeting and lack of fear, that tight ball that had filled her chest eased until it was no longer there.

Even knowing what she was, these people still wanted to work with her.

Maze hadn’t realized just how badly she had needed to know that.

Encouraged, she gave them all a savage grin. She marveled when not a single officer flinched away from her. Some even gave her thumbs up.

She was starting to really understand why Lucifer was so attached to these people. Maze hadn’t really interacted much with them in the past, but their acceptance was a balm to the emotions that she’d been discovering while on Earth.

“Smith! In my office!” Olivia Monroe yelled across the bull pin.

Maze had never been so pleased to be shouted at in her life. She didn’t even feel like gutting the woman for assuming to order her around.

Linda would be so proud of her.

Maze sauntered into the office, smirk fully formed on her face. She was a tad startled to see two Detectives already sitting within the office, though she chose to consider it a good sign. There had been a few times in the past where Maze had been called in to work with specific officers to track down a suspect in the past.

This felt different, however. The air in the room was heated and there was the sent of uncertainty and resignation. Maze frowned, she was familiar with this type of situation as well.

They wanted her here for information. Maze had a feeling that she knew what they wanted to know as well.

They could have easily asked Lucifer. That they had decided to ask her instead made her like them a lot more. “You want to know what happened,” she stated blandly, taking the seat closest to the wall.

Monroe closed the door and pulled the blinds. “That among other things,” she agreed, face pensive.

Maze considered it. So far, Chloe had been left out of everything that had been going on. Other that heaven and herself, only Linda, Ellen, and Dan knew that Chloe had any part in this. It wouldn’t be hard to leave her out, either. Unlike Lucifer, Maze could easily lie. God himself had already dealt with the traitorous bitch, getting the humans involved was unnecessary.

Except Maze was a demon and Chloe had nearly gotten her family killed. Even at her most unhinged from the emotions that Maze just wasn’t equipped to handle, she had never considered physically forcing Lucifer back to Hell. The most she’d considered was framing him for murder and making Earth less appealing.

Not her best plan, Maze admitted. Even if Cain hadn’t backed out, there were far too many loopholes to it that Lucifer could have taken advantage of. If he had really wanted to, Lucifer could have easily exposed the frame job and continued on. The moment that he had figured out what had happened, the entire thing would have fallen apart.

Chloe, though, had thrown them both to the wolves. Once Lucifer’s part was done, Maze would have been next. She’d told her as much when Maze and Amenadiel had confronted her.

No, Maze didn’t owe Chloe anything. Maybe, if the Little Human hadn’t been filled in, Maze would have kept her silence. But Chloe had ruined that too. Now the Little Human was in distress and it was all Chloe’s fault.

“I give you my word to answer everything honestly and fully,” Maze told them and felt the power of it chain her. Lucifer had taught her this, how to bind herself to the honor of her word. It was more celestial than infernal, tickling at her skin in a way that had hurt in Hell. Now, it felt like the caress of white feathers on skin.

She would have to look into that later.

“That sounded a lot more formal than a simple promise,” the male detective commented dryly.

“I have the ability to bind myself fully to my word,” Maze shrugged. “It was something that Lucifer taught me. Doing this will make sure that I don’t leave anything out.”

And it would make sure that Lucifer if he knew what she did, could not fault her. Once she’d given her word like this, Maze was bound to it. He might be angry about it, yet he wouldn’t blame her. These humans had learned everything that they were and had chosen to stand by them both. They were worthy of Maze’s full honesty.

“You didn’t wait to see what we would ask,” Monroe said, studying her. “We could ask you anything and you would be forced to answer.”

Maze looked the woman in the eye and let her true face show. A flinch of surprise, which she expected, and then nothing. There was a little fear, Maze could smell it. Yet they didn’t let it show on their faces.

Maze let the glamor that made her appear human back up. “That’s why,” she said.

It was enough if the relaxing of the two detectives was anything to go by. Monroe smiled at her and moved to take her seat behind the desk. “You read people better than I expected,” she told her.

Maze snorted. “I understand loyalty. The moment you went out there and defended us to the world, you earned the same loyalty from me.”

They could have told the world that they were employing a demon. They could have publicly fired her and saved face. Instead, they had hidden her status and told the world that the Devil was one of them.

Maze wouldn’t forget that.

Monroe nodded at her, understanding on her face. Lucifer and Michael had already been in to talk with her and the rest. A blind person could have figured out that Lucifer had been thrown at their consideration. Ellen had filled her in on the entire thing, barring the conversation with Monroe.

The chaos that descended when Michael was introduced had Maze wishing that she had been there. It hadn’t been the time, though. Lucifer needed to establish himself with them before Maze had her chance.

(She tried to convince herself that she hadn’t just been afraid of what they would think of her.)

“So, what, exactly, happened?” Monroe asked, folding her hands on her desk. “Keep in mind, everything that is said in this room from this moment is off the record.”

Maze looked at the three humans that occupied the room with her and began to talk.

* * *

Jimmy Edwards had wanted to be wrong.

From the moment that he had been given the final reports on the hair in that necklace and the blood in the dagger, Edwards had known what they meant. He was a seasoned Detective, had worked enough cases that he had been able to put two and two together and get four.

He hadn’t wanted that four.

Chloe Decker was a darling of the LAPD. Her solve rate was one of the highest in the department. After Palmetto and being proven right about Malcolm Graham, Decker looked to be a rising star within the department. That her partner was one Lucifer Morningstar only increased her notoriety. It was almost a guarantee that any case the two worked on would be solved.

They looked like the ideal team, despite one of them only being a consultant. Even then, Morningstar was even more liked than Decker was. The man was just oddly endearing, even if they’d thought he was delusional for the last few years.

Marcus Pierce seemed to have changed everything. It had been a given, before then, that Decker and Morningstar would hook up. Everyone with eyes could see the club owner was gone on Decker. Even with that hiccup involving the stripper, which Edwards now suspected had a lot more to it than just cold feet, the precinct had been placing bets on when the two would finally get a clue.

It just figured that Pierce would be the cause behind this mess too. He could understand going into shock after your partner kills your ex-fiancé after said ex had just revealed himself to be a crime lord and just tried to kill you. That would cause anyone to go into shock. Finding out that your partner is also the literal Devil and your ex was the Father of Murder, would not help matters.

Feeling the country to Rome and becoming part of a convoluted murder plot was not a result of shock. Maybe if it had happened in the first week that Decker was gone, it could have been attributed to shock. That hadn’t been what had happened, however. Decker had spent a month in Rome and was back for about a week before she’d poisoned her partner. That was more than enough time for shock to wear off and reason to start kicking in.

Decker had always been the most vocal member of the force in favor of having all the facts. That was what made her a good detective, what had led her to seeing Malcolm Graham for the lunatic that he really was. It was why her solve rate was the highest in the precinct.

How did the saying go? The higher you are, the harder the fall?

Decker had fallen hard, that was for sure. By all rights they should be arresting her for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aiding and abetting, and probably a slew of other charges.

She could claim shock or a mental breakdown all she wanted. The fact of the matter was the she had been completely lucid the last few times Edwards had seen her. A person going through a mental breakdown didn’t pass a psych eval, which she would have been required to after everything that had happened with Pierce. They didn’t come to work, solve cases, and continue life as normal. She might have been jumpy but Edwards had seen no other signs of something being wrong.

There wasn’t a prosecutor in the world that wouldn’t take that and use it against her. If this had gone to trial, Decker would have been convicted easily. They had her psych files, her own confession, and they probably could have gotten phone records tying her to Kinley.

This wouldn’t be going to trial, though. Not in a human court system, at least. Edwards had no doubt that Decker had already been convicted in the eyes of Heaven. God had smote all the priests that had helped Kinley, had turned Kinley into a statue as a warning to humanity and had declared He would do the same to anyone that thought to follow their example.

He had no doubt that Decker had already received her punishment. That didn’t mean that he didn’t think she should still face a court system. If he had his way, Decker would already be awaiting trial.

The only thing that stopped from just arresting her right then was the fact that none of them could be sure it wouldn’t start a full-on war with the Angels if she was found justified. There were too many people that would sympathize with her. She was scared, he was the Devil, everyone knows that the Devil is evil!

Edwards was pretty sure that if Decker was acquitted, the Angels would see that as a threat. If a copycat tried another attack, then there wouldn’t be any negotiations or peaceful talks. He was pretty sure God wouldn’t be giving third chances. They were already on their second chance and if they blew it, humanity might not survive.

This could never make it to a court system.

Chloe Decker wouldn’t face justice in the human world. Quite frankly, it pissed Edwards off that she got to live her life and continue on as a cop when, by all rights, she should be in prison.

He’d been just as livid when Espinoza was reinstated. It wasn’t until he’d gone through the IA report to make sure that he wasn’t being let off with a slap on the wrist, that Edwards had decided to give Espinoza a second chance. Even now, he was still a bit wary.

Jen looked horrified. She was a good cop and had real potential as a detective. Edwards had been more than pleased with having her as a partner since Rich had retired. He’d been a bit annoyed that his replacement partner was a complete rookie, but Jen had more than lived up to the challenge. The first case she made the connections before he did, Edwards had taken her out for celebratory drinks. They’d both been dreading the priest case since it had landed on their desks.

Chloe Decker was held as a role model for all the female cops on the force. Jen had idolized her since she’d first been promoted. His partner had been dying for the day when they had crossing cases.

It always hurt when you learned your idol wasn’t all they were cracked up to be. Usually, it didn’t involve attempted murder. Edwards almost wished that he’d left it alone instead of convincing Monroe to interview Smith.

“We need to keep people from asking Morningstar about Decker,” he said after a moment. He wasn’t sure what would happen if Morningstar was approached about Decker, he just knew that it wouldn’t be kind. Either to the person asking or to Morningstar.

“I’ll send out a memo warning everyone that Decker took the Devil things badly and broke off contact,” Monroe sighed, rubbing her temples. Edwards didn’t envy her that job. “There’s going to be more than a few people that make the connection. I’ve already heard rumors about her necklace and blood popping up at the scene. There’s no helping it. I don’t want to be the one to explain why Satan is having a breakdown in the precinct.”

Edwards snorted. It was already a bit late for that, though he didn’t point it out. It was widely agreed by most of the precinct that they didn’t really want to know what had caused Morningstar’s breakdown a few months ago. The knowledge that they’d been working for Cain was already causing more than a few cops to seek out counselling.

He understood what she really meant. Morningstar was a bit more brittle than he’d ever been. It had been obvious from his behavior his first day back. He’d looked like a single dark look would have sent him running for the hills.

Skittish wasn’t a word he was used to using to describe Lucifer Morningstar, even if it was accurate.

“Edwards, Walters, I’m sure that I don’t have to remind you that none of this is repeated to anyone outside of this office,” Monroe gave them both a Look.

“No one will have heard anything from us,” he agreed as Jen nodded.

“See to it that I don’t,” she warned. “You’re dismissed.”

Without another word, Edwards led Jen away from the office. This was the part where Monroe got to interview the demon about abilities and possible new rule to follow. They weren’t needed for that.

As it was, Edwards was planning on getting very drunk tonight.

* * *

Daniel Espinoza was furious.

He’d been on his lunch break when his cell had started ringing. Dan had considered letting it ring to voicemail before he’d recognized the number on the display. Trixie’s school calling him was never a good thing, even before Chloe had moved and he’d become Trixie’s primary guardian.

Not officially. Officially, they still had shared custody of Trixie and Dan wasn’t going to change that. As much as he was furious with Chloe, she was still Trixie’s mother. It was Trixie’s choice whether she wanted Chloe in her life or not, not Dan’s. If she wanted to live with Chloe, Dan would let her. If she never wanted to speak to Chloe again, Dan wouldn’t force her to.

His daughter needed the ability to make that choice herself.

That wasn’t the reason why he was currently pissed, however. For the first time since the night Maze had shown them her real face, Chloe wasn’t the cause of this particular negative emotion.

That honor went to the deceptively kind-faced people that were sitting before him.

“Mr. Espinoza, I’m sure that you can see where we’re coming from,” the principal continued. Dan really wished the man would shut up. It was getting harder and harder to keep from punching him in the face with every word that kept leaving his lips. “Such an influence on a young child like Trixie can’t be good. We have every right to be concerned about her welfare.”

That was it, Dan was officially out of patience. “No.”

“No?” Trixie’s teacher asked, surprised, and offended.

“No,” Dan repeated, slower. “I’m sure you know what the word means. Quite frankly, it’s none of your business who I associate or who I work with. You are here to teach my child, not police our lives when we’re away from your school because _you_ have a problem with my colleague and friend.”

Dan stood and glared. “When Lucifer Morningstar was considered either eccentric or delusional, you had no problem with him. Now that it has been confirmed that he’s been telling everyone the truth since he first arrived in LA, you suddenly have a problem. I might remind you that Lucifer is one of the angels that has been named by _God_ as a dignitary to humanity. So no, I am not going to up and quit my job or stop associating with a good friend just because you have a problem with him.”

“Mr. Espinoza,” the principle stood, glaring right back. “We are talking about a man who is the literal Devil. This is LA, an eccentric or delusional person claiming to be the Devil is one thing. We had reservations but as you said, it wasn’t any of our business. Now that the world knows that Mr. Morningstar is really the Devil, it’s a very different story. Trixie is a young and impressionable child. Do you really think that allowing the literal Devil to be part of her life is what’s best for her?”

Dan stomped down the urge to strangle the man. He never would have pegged him as a religious type before and hadn’t cared enough to ask. Of course, that would end up being a mistake, he snarled silently.

If this is what Lucifer was used to when people figured out he was who he said he was, it was no wonder that the man had thought that they would drop him the moment they got wind of it, Chloe’s actions notwithstanding. It couldn’t be good from the psyche to spend God knew how long with the fact that everyone in the world thought that you were evil incarnate.

“What is and is not best for _my_ daughter is not your business,” Dan ground out, incensed. “If I want Lucifer to stay on her emergency contact list, that is _my_ choice. If I want to keep working with and associating with him, that is _my_ choice. You do not get to sit here and dictate to me who I can and cannot interact with. That is not your business. I expect you to teach my child, that is the extent of your role in Trixie’s life.”

“How does your ex-wife feel about this?” the teacher asked, a look of triumph on her face.

It wasn’t anywhere near the victory that she thought it was, Dan though smugly. “Call her,” he said and gestured toward the phone. “Go ahead and call her. I’m sure she’ll be happy to tell you that she doesn’t want the man who saved her life more than once, who saved _Trixie’s_ life, in our daughter’s life. Go ahead, call her and give her the same speech that you’ve given me.”

Chloe wouldn’t dare, not after everything. Trixie would never forgive her if she tried to make it so that Trixie could never see either Lucifer or Maze again on top of everything else. His ex-wife had made a lot of mistakes in the past few months and she knew it. Dan was positive that she would back him up on this.

From the look on the faces of the two educators in front of him, his confidence in that had given them pause.

“While that’s all well and good,” the principal continued while what’s-her-name gave him a look of pure loathing. “I’m afraid that if you do not take our concerns seriously, we will be forced to report them to CPS.”

That was it, Dan was done. The very last dredges of his patience flew out of the window. “Effective immediately, I will be withdrawing Trixie from your school,” he told them. “I’m taking her home for the rest of the day. I’ll be back tomorrow to pick off the withdrawal papers.”

That was not what they were expecting, he could see it on their faces.

“I will also be reporting the school for harassment, bigotry, poor conduct, and breach of policy,” he told them and watched with satisfaction as the principle paled. “You see, Chloe might have been willing to let your culpability in allowing Malcolm Graham to kidnap our daughter from your school without checking his identity or calling us, but I am not nearly so kind as my ex-wife is. I don’t care that he was a police officer. I don’t care that I’ve picked her up in the past in a cruiser. Malcolm was not on the list of adults allowed to take Trixie from your school. He did not have a note from us, and you did not call to check with us. He very nearly succeeded in _killing_ Trixie because of your negligence.”

Judging by the look on the teacher’s face, she hadn’t known that.

“That’s not the only time that you’ve allowed Trixie to leave with a stranger,” Dan whispered, his voice pitched low. “Marcus Pierce, who turned out to be the Sinnerman, a _crime lord_ , and apparently the _literal Cain,_ was not on the list of trusted adults the first few times he came to pick her up. Chloe let that go because he was our boss. Again, I’m not Chloe.”

The principle made the mistake of trying to interrupt. Dan didn’t bother to give the man the chance to defend himself. Chloe might have understood or had been swayed by the excuse of ‘they were the police’ but Dan wasn’t. If he hadn’t been dealing with the fallout of his own actions, there was no way that he wouldn’t have gone after them.

It still baffled him that Chloe hadn’t done the same.

Either way, Dan wasn’t in the mood to forgive and forget. This was the last straw and was a long time coming.

“And harassment?” Dan laughed. “Did you think that Chloe didn’t tell me about the times that she was called in because of something Trixie said or did? It shouldn’t have mattered if we did or didn’t practice Satanism, which we don’t. I know from Trixie’s stories that many of her classmates have talked about their parent’s religion in class. Demanding a meeting every time Trixie talked about Lucifer just because _you_ are uncomfortable with the idea of Satanism, is harassment and bigotry.”

The principal didn’t try to interrupt this time. That was good. Dan wasn’t sure he could be held accountable for anything that would happen if the morons before him tried to speak at this point.

Dan might have been the easy-going one between Chloe and himself, but they had crossed far too many lines. During this entire meeting, not once had the reason he had come running here been brought up.

Dan moved towards the door. It would be for the best if he left now before they could do something that would end in him shooting them. “Go ahead, call CPS. I’ll tell them the same thing I’ve told you. Lucifer Morningstar is one of the only reasons that my daughter wasn’t killed by a psychopath that _you_ allowed to take from your school without identification. I’ll remind them that Lucifer Morningstar was named as a dignitary by _God_. So you go ahead and report me.”

Without another word, Dan wrenched the door open and slammed it shut behind him as he left. He could hear their protests through the door as what he had said finally registered.

“Daddy?” Trixie asked, voice quiet. She was sitting right where he’d left her, in a chair by the door with an ice pack to her face. She was going to have a black-eye by tomorrow, her lip was split, and there was dirt coating her face.

That was the worst part of all this. Three older students had _attacked_ his daughter because she was talking about Lucifer to her best friend. Trixie’s friend had run and gotten help, and instead of suspending the three that had attacked her, they had called and started threatening _Dan_.

Dan took out his phone. “I’m going to have to take pictures,” he told her softly.

Trixie nodded. His little girl was smart, she had probably known exactly what was going to happen the moment that he had been called in and the three assailants had been sent back to class.

He snapped a few of her in the chair with the ice bag. He took a few without it, nearly turning around and storming back into that office when he noticed the cuts on her face that had been hidden before. There was still gravel in them, he noticed. He made sure that he got that photographed as well.

Other than giving her an ice bag, Trixie hadn’t had a single injury treated. Trixie had been sitting here covered in dirt and blood while two adults that were supposed to protect her had threatened her father.

Maze and Lucifer were going to lose it, Dan thought with rage. Hell, Trixie had already established herself as Michael’s favorite as well, which meant that he might be just as incensed as the other two once Dan explained exactly what had gone on here.

It was almost enough to make him consider reframing from suing.

Almost. 

“Mr. Trixie’s Dad?” a voice asked, quietly from the office door. Dan looked up to see a familiar face.

Amelia Jenson was twelve years old and one of Trixie’s best friends. She was also the one that had gone for help when Trixie was attacked. Behind her, Mrs. Jenson stood with a furious look on her face.

Maria Jenson was a fierce, no-nonsense, divorce lawyer. Dan and Chloe had gone through her when filing for divorce all that time ago. She was professional and competent.

“Amelia is willing to testify when you sue,” Maria told him as she looked over Trixie. The more she took in, the harder her expression became. “I’ve already called Jake to pull the consent papers. I’ll have them ready for whatever lawyer you hire to pick up.”

Maria, like most, absolutely adored Trixie. Her husband, Jake Jenson, was just as fond of Trixie as his wife and daughter.

It was a relief to see that nothing had changed between them. Amelia was Trixie’s closest friend, one of the few left after that bullying a few years ago that had dwindled down her lists of friends greatly.

Dan had never wanted Trixie to know how fickle friendships could sometimes be until much, much later in her life. There were always going to be people that were two-faced and easily swayed no matter what you did in life. Dan hadn’t thought Trixie would learn that until late high school or college.

He was glad that Trixie still had at least one friend in her corner. He didn’t think that all of the parents of Trixie’s friends were going to be like Maria and Jake Jenson.

“Thank you,” Dan told her. “I’m coming back in tomorrow to withdraw her. I suggest that you think about doing the same. There wasn’t a single mention of punishing the three students that attacked her.”

The fury on Maria’s face increased at that. “I see,” she said. Her voice was dangerous.

If Dan hadn’t known a literal demon and the literal Devil, he would have pegged Maria Jenson as the scariest person that he’d ever met. As it was, she was the scariest _human_ that Dan had ever met.

Dan had met a lot of terrifying humans.

“Why don’t we go get you cleaned up?” Dan asked quietly as Trixie’s eyes started tearing up. His little girl had been doing a lot of crying lately.

Dan grabbed Trixie’s hand and led the small group out of the building. Maria and Amelia broke away from them as they went to their separate cars. Dan promised that he’d keep Maria updated as he figured out what to do with the school.

He was not looking forward to chaos Trixie’s appearance was going to cause in the penthouse.

* * *

Lucifer was honestly considering murder.

Beatrice’s face was covered in dirt, she had cuts that had _gravel_ in them, and there were the beginnings of a black-eye on her face. She was also crying.

Before Daniel could explain what had happened, Lucifer gathered the Spawn up and marched her to the bathroom. The Spawn latched herself onto him and sobbed as he started running the faucet with warm water and pulled out a washcloth to clean the dirt away.

As much as he wanted to whip out a wing and heal her right then and there, Daniel had been shaking his head. Which meant that they needed documentation to pursue proper punishment for the Spawn’s current state.

That didn’t mean that Lucifer couldn’t take care of what he could without interference. If that meant cleaning the wounds and allowing himself to be used as a pillow, then Lucifer would do it. And he would enjoy properly explaining to those responsible just why they should have left Beatrice Decker Espinoza alone.

He was pretty sure that Maze would be overjoyed to help explain the error in their actions to them.

As it was, Michael entered the bathroom seething only moments after he started wiping away dirt and gravel. The menace that seeped into every inch of the room would have had anyone that didn’t know him running scared. As it was, the Spawn just cuddled further into Lucifer’s arms.

“Who,” Michael asked, voice dark and filled with promised violence. The Spawn had easily managed to endear herself to his Twin during the time Michael had interacted with her. While his Twin liked Daniel, Ella, and Linda more than the average human, he adored Beatrice. Lucifer couldn’t really blame him. For a human spawn, the Spawn was the most superior example that Lucifer had ever encountered.

The idea of anyone hurting her had rage coiling into his wings.

“Three eighth-graders,” Beatrice whispered. “They came up to me when I was talking to Amelia. She went to get help when one of them hit me.”

Lucifer didn’t bother to stop the red that he knew was lighting up his eyes. The black that exuded from Michael reflected his own rage. Lucifer was going to have _words_ with those that thought they could harm the Spawn and get away with it.

He honestly wasn’t surprised when a wing brushed against the Spawn. It was getting harder and harder to keep from engulfing her within them whenever she showed signs of distress. Lucifer wasn’t as willing as he’d been before to stop them, either.

That Beatrice leaned into the feathers and sighed didn’t help him with restraint either.

“Why are you merely cleaning the wounds?” Michael asked darkly. His Twin was doing his very best to keep from tracking those mortals down and smiting them, Lucifer knew. Michael had always been quicker to entice to violence than Lucifer was. The only reason that Michael was still here was his unwillingness to leave Lucifer’s side.

“Daniel seems to think that we’re going to need documentation in order to properly punish those responsible,” Lucifer said as he finished with the Spawn’s face. “We can heal her after we have proper medical documentation. Sadly, that means waiting to see a human physician.”

Dreadfully slow but necessary. Lucifer had learned that during his time working with the LAPD.

“Daddy’s pulling me out of school,” Beatrice told them while Lucifer started working on the cuts on her hands. “Mrs. Jenson said that Amelia is going to testify when Daddy sues.”

Lucifer stopped what he was doing as the implications of that reached him. “Why,” he asked slowly. “Would Daniel need to sue?”

“Because those assholes weren’t going to punish the kids that did this,” Daniel told them from the doorway. “They sat Trixie in a chair with an ice bag, sent her attackers back to class, and proceeded to threaten to call CPS on me.”

Lucifer felt more than heard the snarl that vibrated his throat. Michael bared his teeth in fury, though his Twin didn’t really know what CPS was. Mostly, it was a reaction to the implied threat and lack of treatment for Beatrice. The fact that there wasn’t any punishment to her attackers didn’t help matters.

Lucifer was going to enjoy destroying these people. Suing or smiting wasn’t enough. He was going to shred them from the inside out and leave them nothing to salvage. Maze would enjoy helping him. The demon was absolutely brilliant at digging up dirt on humans, nearly as brilliant as she was at hunting down damned souls. She would be more than happy to use those talents to punish anyone that had dared to hurt Beatrice while she was under _their_ protection.

Getting Michael to leave them alive until then would be the trick.

Lucifer finished up with Beatrice’s wounds and began wrapping what he could. He’d gotten good at dealing with minor injuries during the last few years. This was the first time that he was really applying that knowledge to someone other than himself, however.

“The bruises are going to start showing up tomorrow,” Daniel told them as he leaned against the wall. Lucifer could hear the hint of rage that was the only indication of his feeling on the matter. “Once we’ve got photos of them and have a doctor look Trixie over, you can heal her.”

“I can get her into a doctor tomorrow morning,” Lucifer told him as he set the Spawn down. He didn’t protest as she curled into his wing. It soothed his instincts to have her cocooned in feathers while she was injured. “I’ll bring a camera to document the injuries.”

That was much too long though Lucifer understood that somethings took longer to appear on humans than they did angels. He didn’t like the thought of not healing her right away.

They would need that evidence if he was going to destroy the ones that had allowed this to happen, he consoled himself.

Evidently, Michael had started picking up on his thoughts again. The satisfaction that thrummed their bond singled that he understood what Lucifer was planning.

“Can I go lay down?” Beatrice asked, voice small.

“Would you like another ice pack?” Daniel asked as he moved to take his daughter from the Devil holding her. Lucifer reluctantly handed her over, though he kept a sharp eye on the two. Beatrice nodded into her father’s neck, tears stains starting to appear once more on dirt-free skin.

Lucifer watched the two move towards the kitchen and felt the menace that he’d been holding back join Michael’s.

Someone, Lucifer thought with growing rage, was going to pay.

* * *

17 days. It had taken 17 days to see the first signs of pushback amongst the humans. All considered it could have gone better.

Amenadiel had suspected that sooner or later, someone was going to act against one of Lucifer’s humans. His brother wasn’t regarded the best by humanity and those that associated with him were going to get some negative attention.

He just hadn’t expected the first to be Trixie.

Trixie was probably the worst first choice they could have picked. While going for any of Lucifer’s humans was a mistake, going after Trixie was guaranteed to get a negative response from Lucifer, Maze, and Michael. Even he was not immune to the charm of the child, though he wasn’t as protective as those three.

It was a miracle that there wasn’t blood on the ground.

He wasn’t sure if this was much better than that would have been. Lucifer was on the warpath.

It was alarming just how thoroughly Lucifer was tearing apart every little detail about the staff at Trixie’s school. He had more than a few plans that would leave the humans in question thoroughly ruined and probably destitute. Maze was digging up even more on the humans that would probably make it impossible for them to find any job ever again.

Michael was hovering in the background, soaking everything up and adding an idea here and there.

Frankly, Amenadiel was intimidated by it all. He’d known that Lucifer could be protective and that both Maze and his brother adored Trixie, he just hadn’t realized what that could mean.

This was why Father had wanted Lucifer to be one of the dignitaries, Amenadiel realized. It wasn’t just a convenient way to make sure that Lucifer knew he wasn’t banished anymore. While that was likely a very big part of it, Father had known just how much Lucifer knew about the human government and what an asset he would be to them.

Lucifer probably didn’t even realize the implications of what he was doing here. He was using human law and working within it to destroy people who had allowed a child to be hurt. They were all using the very system that was created by humans to find justice for a human.

There wasn’t a government out there that wasn’t going to look at this and wonder what Lucifer could do to them if pushed. If this is what he could do to seemingly upstanding citizens without a hint of supernatural abilities, Lucifer could easily use the same tactics on the governments of the world.

Just like Kinley, this was another show of force. Unlike Kinley, this was on a different level. ‘We don’t need our power to end you should you cross us. We can make your system do it for us.’

Even Dan looked stunned as the three worked, though he had started out as the most livid of them. Understandable, Trixie was his daughter. This was a lot more than what the human had planned, from the look on his face. Amenadiel thought he’d heard the man mention a possible court case before Lucifer had finally gotten in touch with Maze. It seemed that she’d been in her own meeting with Monroe when Dan had shown up to the penthouse with Trixie.

“This takes care of the school,” Ella finally said, having shown up partway through. Amenadiel had honestly been a little surprised when she’d started on her own warpath, though he probably shouldn’t have been. Azrael had come clean about her relationship with Ella while they were waiting for Lucifer to wake up. Anyone that Azrael cultivated a friendship with wasn’t a soft-hearted pushover.

Really, it explained a lot about the scientist. Especially the way that she had behaved around Lucifer after finding out that his brother really was the Devil. Someone that had met Azrael and kept a friendship up with her wasn’t going to be put off by Satan.

It also meant that she was terrifying, Amenadiel decided. Ella had taken it upon herself to find anyone that might have had a similar experience with the staff at Trixie’s school and was in the process of contacting every single one of them. What she planned to do after that, Amenadiel decided that he really didn’t want to know.

What he did know is that the humans involved really hadn’t thought any of this through. While it wasn’t the ideal way to get involved in the human justice system, it wasn’t the worst way either. He would have preferred if Trixie had remained out of it entirely, ideally. Still, this would probably turn out better than if someone had tried going after Maze or even after Lucifer again. If that had happened, Michael might have started smiting people. Worse, Father probably wouldn’t have stopped Michael.

It was probably for the best that Lucifer’s humans were established as ‘off-limits’ early on, anyways. If they were really lucky, Maze’s status as a demon would be kept quiet until things were further along.

Amenadiel sighed, feeling his head begin to ache.

This was going to be a long few days.

* * *

Trixie hurt _everywhere_. Her face throbbed, her lip ached, and moving was horrible. If she could have, Trixie would have liked to have stayed in bed.

Daddy had told her that she needed to get checked out by a doctor so that they could properly go after her school. After that, Lucifer was planning on healing her so that she didn’t hurt anymore.

The entire thing just made Trixie want to cry. She had already been having a hard time after what Mom had done to Lucifer. She’d just been telling Amelia that Lucifer really _was_ the Devil, since that wasn’t a secret anymore when the older kids had come over.

Trixie had never seen them before, though Amelia had known their names. They went to the same church as her grandma and Amelia had interacted with them in the kid’s area before they had been deemed ‘old enough’ to join the adult area. They greeted Amelia by name so Trixie hadn’t been concerned at first.

It wasn’t until the one closest to her had ‘accidentally’ elbowed her that Trixie had figured out what was happening. She knew enough about how things worked to know that they weren’t here to catch up with Amelia as the two had thought. It got worse when one of them went for her ribs and Amelia had tried to step in. Trixie didn’t know which one had done it, but next thing Trixie knew as her friend hit the ground and a fist hitting Trixie’s face.

Trixie had done her best to keep the damage to a minimum like Maze had shown her in one of her defense lessons. She’d even managed to get in a few kicks to their no-no touch area just like Maze had taught her. It was dangerous to aim for there unless you knew just how much strength to put behind the kick and hit the right area. The one holding her hair had gone down immediately.

Trixie hadn’t told Maze that yet. The demon hadn’t been home since the incident, out collecting information to use against the teachers. Trixie knew that Maze would be proud of her, though. She was always proud when Trixie put her lessons to use.

Then the teachers had finally come with Amelia leading the way. Trixie hadn’t even noticed Amelia leaving for help. She had been so relieved up until the moment that Ms. Benson had sent her attackers back to class. They weren’t even given detention! Trixie had wanted to cry because her face hurt but Amelia looked like she was about to cry too so Trixie knew she had to pretend that she was fine.

Trixie didn’t know what Amelia had called her mom. Her Daddy hadn’t arrived yet to talk to Ms. Benson and Mr. Argus when Mrs. Jenson had come in. She was the one that gave Trixie the ice pack, not the teachers. Trixie didn’t tell her Daddy that, she was afraid he might shoot them. Mrs. Jenson had gone to get Amelia’s things when her Daddy had shown up, so he hadn’t seen her before he came out of his meeting.

She’d never seen her Daddy that furious in her life. If he shot Trixie’s teacher and principal, then he would go to jail. Trixie didn’t know what she’d do if he was in jail. She didn’t think that living with her mom would ever be the same, now that Trixie knew what she’d done. The pleading look she’d sent Mrs. Jenson had kept the other woman from saying anything too. Trixie thought that Mrs. Jenson had come to the same conclusion as Trixie, though without the worries about her mom and everything that had happened.

Lucifer picking her up and carrying her to the bathroom wasn’t what Trixie had thought would happen. Lucifer didn’t initiate contact with her, and he’d never carried her before. It was the most affection that the Devil had ever shown her.

His wings made her feel safer than she’d felt all day. Michael’s hovering and anger had only made her feel even _more_ safe. The only thing that would have made this better was if Maze was there and her Mom.

She really wanted her mommy, just then. She wanted everything to go back to how it had been before Marcus had come. Everything had been so much better then. Even though Trixie liked Michael, she still wished that they could go back to a time when it was her, Lucifer, Mommy, and Daddy. Daddy would have still found Ms. Charlotte and been happy with them too.

That couldn’t happen now.

Trixie _hated_ Marcus Pierce and William Kinley. Everything that was going wrong was their fault. If neither of them had ever met her mommy, then everything would still be okay. Ms. Linda said that it was okay to feel like that and Maze agreed.

She’d spent the night laying in bed crying. At one point, Lucifer and Michael had come in to cuddle her, and Trixie had fallen asleep covered in white and black feathers. She wished that they could have spent the whole day like that.

Trixie knew that seeing a doctor was important, though. After they had seen the doctor, Lucifer was going to heal her. He’d told her so and Lucifer didn’t lie.

“Trixie, are you ready to go?” Daddy yelled from further in the penthouse.

“Coming!” she called back.

Trixie just wanted this day to be over.

* * *

“She’s very lucky,” Dr. Harkins told him, gesturing to the x-rays that were taped up on the lightbox. “She’s got a fracture in her right arm and her ribs are cracked. Otherwise, there’s no sign of internal bleeding or any broken bones. The bruises on her face and body look to be bad and they’ll take a week or so before they really begin healing. There’s no sign of infection in any of her cuts. If I’d had to guess, I would have thought that she had only been attacked by a single person, not a group of three.”

“Maze taught me how to protect myself if I got trapped on the ground,” Trixie whispered. “She said it was important to minimize damage.”

Dan could have kissed the demon. Without those lessons, Dan would have been forced to take her to a hospital and then there would have been no stopping the angels and demon from losing it on the school. As it was, Maria had calmly informed him on the phone last night that she’d been the one to retrieve the ice pack in the first place.

Dan understood why they hadn’t said anything at the school. He was self-aware enough to know that he would have shot the assholes right then and there. It was probably for the best that he’d asked Ella to pick up the withdraw paperwork from the school today. He’d given her a letter signed by himself that they were to hand over the paperwork to Ella. He had a copy of it in case they forced him to send his lawyer, once he figured out who that was.

Lucifer had told him that he’d be taking care of it. The amount of menace on the Devil’s face hadn’t allowed Dan to argue with him. Truthfully, it was nice to see that confidence on his face, after his more skittish tendencies lately. Dan wished that it was for a different reason than this.

“Remind me to give Maze the okay to teach you more self-defense,” Dan told her. “If anyone ever comes at you like that again, I want you to be able to do more than just minimize damage.”

Or kick people in the crotch, he snorted. Honestly, of all the technique’s that Maze could have taught Trixie without getting caught, that was probably the most hilarious. Chloe probably wouldn’t have caught on, since Trixie had already done something similar to a bully in the past. Dan, however, knew just how much procession it took to repeatedly hit the same area with enough strength to do damage.

When the principle had hinted at possibly punishing Trixie for it was when Dan had finally caught on to what was happening.

The small smile on his little girl’s face was a welcome change. She’d been quiet and withdrawn whenever the two of them were alone since Chloe had come clean. Lately, the only way to get her to smile was when Lucifer was in the room. Trixie was always just so relieved to see Lucifer that everything that had happened didn’t seem able to touch her when the Devil was within sight.

Not the typical response to the Devil being in the same room, Dan thought with amusement. Honestly, he was warier of Michael than he had ever been of Lucifer. Amenadiel had assured him that was a normal reaction to Michael’s presence and was only his instincts warning him of a predator.

Dan didn’t have the heart to tell the angel that wasn’t reassuring. Amenadiel, while better at social interaction then Lucifer, was still too removed to know that telling someone a predator was near wasn’t a good way to calm them down. Linda had been doing her best to keep from outright laughing when Dan had relayed that conversation to her. If this was what the therapist had to deal with all the time, it was no wonder she’d always seemed so done with them all. They’d started their own ‘human only’ night to go along with the girl’s ‘tribe night’. Tribe night now included the new addition of the Archangel Gabriel, which left the rest of them to have a ‘boy’s night’ on their own.

Introducing the angels to human cinema had been worth it. Raguel and Michael were fascinated by the special effects most modern movies used and intrigued by the more campy effects of the classics. Lucifer spent the entire time making crude jokes and pretending not to be just as engrossed.

Amenadiel was probably the most hilarious as he tended to outright yell at the character when he thought someone was being stupid.

Trixie’s whimper brought him unpleasantly back to the present. The distraction had at least allowed the doctor to finish his examination without Dan breathing down his neck, so there was that.

This entire fiasco had taken Dan’s already fried nerves and completely destroyed them. In all his worst-case scenarios of how this could play out, he’d never expected Trixie to be dragged into this mess. She was a _child_ , there shouldn’t have been any need to worry about her in this fallout. It just never occurred to him that the kids at Trixie’s school would attack her.

It should have. Dan was a cop; he knew that kids picked up behavior from their parents. He even knew that Trixie had been telling everyone that Lucifer really was the Devil from day one. That would have gotten back to their parents eventually, even if it was only to talk about how gullible Trixie was to believe that. Now Lucifer was publicly ‘out’ (for lack of a better word), someone was bound to connect the dots back to Trixie.

The thing was, she should have been _safe_. Anything that happened should have been dealt with by the faculty at the school! Instead, they had taken the side of the kids that had beat his little girl to the point of bone fractures! Bone fractures!

If Dan had any reservations about sending the Devil after these people, he didn’t now. The only thing he was worried about was the conversation that he was going to have to have with Chloe.

He really didn’t want to have the conversation. The last few times they had spoken, things hadn’t gone well. Dan wasn’t even really all that sorry for it. For all that he’d messed up when it came to Malcolm, he hadn’t plotted to murder Chloe because of it. Chloe could claim all she wanted that she had no clue what Kinley’s full plans were, the fact of it was that she was willfully ignorant. It would have taken only a quick conversation with Ella to get that vial tested before she used it.

Hell, she could have just talked to Kinley’s superiors at the Vatican and this whole thing might never have happened. Well, at least not Lucifer’s part in it. The angel’s starting to interact with the world again sounded more like an inevitability that could have been kickstarted more than one way. Hell, Dan would have preferred keeping hold of his misplaced anger and losing the Devil as a friend than what had happened. While he rather liked what his friendship with Lucifer was becoming, more than just amicable coworkers, Dan didn’t like that it had come from him nearly dying forever.

When had Dan and Chloe traded places? There was a time that Dan would have sworn that Chloe would never have stooped as low as murdering a friend. He would have pegged himself as the one most likely to do something like that.

“Can we get a copy of the report?” he asked the doctor. “And would you be willing to testify to Trixie’s injuries?”

The man nodded. “I’ll have one of the nurses print you a copy and send another to you via email. If you need my testimony, call the nurse's office and let me know when and where. That they didn’t treat her at all and didn’t punish the culprits is despicable. Trixie could have easily had a broken bone and they didn’t check at all.”

“Thank you,” Dan told the man, glad to see someone outside their circle just as incensed. It made him feel a lot better about his chances when he sued. If they could manage to keep the angels out of it, at least in the courtroom, it would be a miracle. As it was, Lucifer was banking on the staff bringing it up first. If they did, they would paint themselves as religious bigots and sink their own case.

“How would you like to go for ice cream?” he asked Trixie, knowing that he was going to have to make that call before they got back to LUX. “I think that you deserve a treat, yeah?”

The smile on Trixie’s face told him all he needed to know.

* * *

Chloe felt the world tilt as she listened to Dan explain what had happened. Her stomach cramped and she raised a hand to her mouth.

“Is Trixie alright?!” she asked, panicked at the thought of her daughter injured.

This was all her fault. Oh God, Trixie.

“She’s going to be fine,” Dan sighed on the other end of the phone. “I took her for ice cream and that cheered her up a bit. She won’t be living with the bruises for long, either. We had to see a doctor first and get documentation or else she’d already be perfectly fine.”

Because they were living with angels that adored their daughter, Chloe translated. It made her a bit ill to know that Lucifer, even before all of this, would not have stood her daughter hurting if he could help it. It was one of the reasons that Trixie adored him. The man caved to her the moment he noticed even a hint of tears.

Thinking about that hurt, though Chloe was doing better now that she was away from LA. The police here didn’t care about who her partner was, though they were a bit interested in the Devil part of it, and they didn’t have any expectations on how she should be. She hadn’t been assigned a new partner yet, which made things a bit easier as well. The lack of a dark suit in her peripheral vision wasn’t as noticeable outside the streets of LA.

That all came crashing back talking to Dan on the phone. She’d been so stupid to think that her actions wouldn’t have consequences for the people she loved. Fuck, she’d known that the staff at Trixie’s school weren’t the best and she hadn’t spared her daughter a single thought when she’d seen that press conference. Chloe should have been the one calling Dan, telling him to be careful with Trixie’s school.

She should have transferred Trixie the moment that she learned the school had just let her leave with Malcolm, and again with Pierce. She hadn’t, though, because both were cops and the school knew that Chloe and Dan worked for the LAPD. She’d stupidly let it go with Malcolm because she’d just been so relieved that Trixie was alive and so afraid of what she would find when Lucifer’s blood was tested. With Pierce, Chloe hadn’t questioned it because Pierce was her boss and later, her fiancé.

Now that was coming back to bite Trixie and Chloe wanted to smack her past self. Her daughter was suffering because Chloe kept getting too caught up in herself to think properly. Dan had been right, for once. They should have gone after the school the moment that Malcolm had been dealt with. She just hadn’t listened because she was so hurt at what he’d done.

It was easy to get caught up in being _right_ that you did the wrong thing.

“What do you need me to do?” she asked, pushing back those thoughts. None of this would help Trixie right now and her daughter was the most important person in her world. It was time that Chloe push away her own problems to focus on Trixie.

“I don’t know yet,” Dan told her. “We’re still in the beginning of this. I might have to get your signature on some of the papers once we’ve finalized the lawyer.”

“Send them to me and I’ll get them back, signed and dated,” Chloe told him.

“Thanks,” her ex told her, stiffly. There was a time that Chloe had thought they would be able to remain friends. That, too, was a passing memory that Chloe could only blame herself for. “I’ll keep you updated as much as possible.”

“Thank you,” she made sure the put as much feeling into the words as possible. “Whatever you need during this, you only have to ask.”

Things had changed so much since the days Dan had put work before his family. Three years had changed them both more than Chloe had realized. It was during her first week here that Chloe had looked into the mirror and wondered who it was that stared back at her.

She didn’t like what she had become since she’d met Marcus. If Lucifer had brought out the best in her, then Cain had brought out the worst. It was only now that she was realizing the extent of that. The first time that Lucifer had confronted her with who he was, truly attempted to make her realize it, she had shot him. It had been one of the most embarrassing moments of her life and she’d felt horrible afterwards.

After Malcolm had shot him and she had that blood in her hand, Chloe had been afraid for a whole different reason. Not afraid of Lucifer but of what he represented if he really was telling the truth.

Somehow, she’d gone from that to thinking that her partner was evil. At some point, she’d started believing in the person that Cain wanted her to see in Lucifer. She had soaked up every negative thing he’d ever said about her partner and allowed that to color her vision of who Lucifer was. As much as Chloe wanted to say that she was in shock and that was why Kinley had managed to get her to help him, she knew better.

She hadn’t wanted the person she’d almost married to be a monster. If Pierce, _Cain_ , was a monster, then Chloe had almost made the worst mistake in her life. She’d been fooled by that kind façade and had convinced herself that it was Pierce that she loved. Chloe hadn’t been able to come to terms with that.

And she’d made Lucifer into the monster instead. She’d made herself ignore everything that she had learned about Pierce, pretended he was just another person, because Chloe couldn’t accept allowing a mass murderer into her home and life. Instead, she had needed to believe that the Devil had merely tricked her and Kinley had given her all the justification she’d needed.

Chloe could understand how people were driven to the point of murder, now. The reasoning that seemed so logical at the time that made good people do horrid things. The guilt of it ate at her whenever she was alone, weighing on her more than fear ever did. Worse, Chloe knew that if Lucifer had merely been sent to Hell, the guilt still would have followed her. It had already started the moment she had gotten home to see the flowers waiting for her. This was always going to be how this ended.

Going to Hell when she died did nothing to ease the guilt that followed her now. Chloe didn’t think anything ever would. She had taken the trust given to her by her partner and had shredded it. Lucifer had done some much for her. Instead of remembering that, Chloe had chosen to believe in the lie that humanity told.

Chloe remembered the feeling that came with knowing that man who had murdered her father would rot in jail for the rest of his life. Knowing that her father was in Heaven and his killer would spend eternity in Hell did nothing to ease the hurt that came with John Decker’s death.

Was that how the angels felt about her? That her punishment wasn’t enough in comparison to what she had done? All the other’s involved had been erased from existence.

Chloe wished that she had been among them. A pile of ash that couldn’t remember the trust in the eyes of the person she had just poisoned. She had always thought that there would be nothing awaiting her after death, having it be true would have been alright with her. Oblivion was what she had nearly sentence Lucifer too, it was only right that she be sentenced to it in his place.

Maybe that was the true cruelty behind God’s punishment. As much as Chloe wanted to free from the guilt of her actions, she would have to live with it for the rest of eternity. Kinley would suffer as a statue for the rest of Earth’s existence before being destroyed altogether. Chloe, who had betrayed the love given her, would never know the release of oblivion. She wouldn’t even have the hell loop Lucifer had once told her of to distract her. She would be alone with her thoughts for eternity.

Strangely, the thought made her feel better. Chloe _knew_ that she wasn’t just going to get away with what she had done. She might be able to live free for however long her life lasted but there would punishment waiting for her when she died.

Until then, Chloe was going to be the best person that she could be. There would be no more wallowing, no more self-pity. She was a big girl and it was time that she acted like it. She put down the phone, Dan having hung up a lot time ago.

She stared at the phone, considering her options. With a sigh, she picked it up and pulled up the long list of missed calls.

It was time to face the world. Or, in this case, Penelope Decker.

Chloe hit the dial bottom and braced herself.

* * *

Raymond Pitcher, Jackson Andrews, and Kevin Reach.

Three names that belonged to a group of fourteen year old kids that had thought to attack an eleven year old girl. They weren’t anything like Joe Walker thought they would be when he was first approached for this case.

Like most, Joe Walker had met Lucifer Morningstar when he had hit his lowest point. His wife had died, and he was being looked at by police for her death. She’d accidently overdosed after getting his med mixed up with hers during a blinding headache. He’d come home to find her dead on the floor.

It was only because of the camera’s in his firm’s office that had cleared him. Unfortunately, it was only after he’d been let go. So, there he was, jobless, a dead wife, and about to loose his home to top it off. His in-laws blamed him for her death and his own parents had died two years prior.

After one meeting and a drunken deal, Joe had found himself working at an upscale firm, his name publicly cleared, and an apology from his in-laws waiting for him on his voicemail. Apparently, they’d been sent video of his absolute drunken breakdown to a stranger and had decided that he wasn’t really at fault for Amy’s death. The one behind it all?

Lucifer Morningstar. In exchange, all Joe had to promise was a favor at a later date.

Finding out that he’d made a deal with the Devil, Joe had been a bit nervous about the favor when the call had come. It took five minutes for Joe to be completely on board with it.

If there was one thing that Joe Walker hated most, it was people that went after kids. The picture that he’d been sent of that little girl’s black eye had him seething for hours. Getting a play-by-play of the meeting the girl’s father had endured was just icing on the cake.

When Joe brought the case to the head of firm and explained everything (minus Joe’s deal), the firm had labeled it a pro-bono and gave him the go-ahead. Being given the chance to be part of the very first case involving angels was enough for his bosses to be convinced. That picture of the girl only helped matters. One of the reasons that Joe enjoyed this firm much more than his last was their morals. This wasn’t the first case they’d taken to represent a wronged child.

That was how Joe found himself sitting in front of these three kids and their parents. Raymond Pitcher was a weedy boy with dark black hair that was matched by his skin. That ruled out the race angle, thankfully. Things got messy when race was brought into it. This case was already going to be messy enough without adding another facet. Jackson Andrews had sandy blond hair, lean muscles, and sun kissed skin. Kevin Reach was the tallest of the bunch and clearly athletic. Brown hair framed white skin and accented bright green eyes. From everything that Joe had from their school files, the three were looking at a bright future.

It was a pity they’d thrown that away by attacking a little girl.

“Do you know why you’re here?” he asked them, folding his hands in his lap.

“No,” Mr. Pitcher snapped. “You’ve got five minutes before we take the kids and leave.”

Said kids shifted, nervous. Good, they at least knew what this was about.

“Why don’t you ask your son, Mr. Pitcher. I’m sure that he’ll be glad to tell you what this is all about,” Joe smiled gently. “Go on, I’m sure your parents are dying to know what this is all about.”

“Kevin?” Mrs. Reach asked. She was clearly the one that her sone had gotten his athletic build from. His father was much shorter and more on the heavy side that Kevin Reach was.

Said boy wouldn’t look anyone in the face. Out of the three, Kevin seemed the most ashamed and guilty. If Joe had to guess, he wasn’t the instigator of this and was the weakest link of the three. Being big and athletic didn’t mean you had a dominant personality. That would be to Joe’s advantage here. If he could get one of them to turn, they could get the upper hand in the court case.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” Joe said. “You’re in serious trouble here. That girl’s father is a cop and he’s pissed with you.”

Ah, there was the beginnings of real worry in the other two.

“What girl?” Mrs. Andrews asked, voice hard. From her posture, this was the first time she was dealing with something like this. The resignation in her posture was too prominent. She had a very good idea what this was about. “Who did you go after now, you stupid boy? A cop’s daughter, really?”

“Two days ago, your sons gained up and beat a little girl while at school,” Joe told them all. He brought out the pictures that he’d been sent and laid them on the table. “This is Trixie Espinoza, eleven years old. If not for her self-defense training, she would be sporting a broken arm and several broken ribs. As it is, her ribs are fractured and so is her arm. Her father and mother are both homicide Detectives.”

Ah, now the Pitcher’s were paling. “Please tell me her mother’s name is Chloe Decker,” Mr. Pitcher asked, pleading.

Joe merely smiled pleasantly. “I’m afraid I cannot,” he told them gently.

“Who is Chloe Decker?” Mrs. Andrews asked, sighing. “I’m assuming that her name has something to do with this whole thing?”

“Chloe Decker is a former Detective of the LAPD, recently transferred to San Jose after her ex-fiancé was identified as the crime lord known as the Sinnerman,” Joe informed them calmly. While not everyone would know her by name, all of LA knew about the Sinnerman investigation and, more recently, his identity as Cain. They would be able to connect the dots from there.

Sure enough, every parent present had a look of utter horror on their faces. “We weren’t supposed to attack her,” Kevin Reach finally broke when he looked at his mother. “Ray said he just wanted to talk!”

“Shut up Kevin!” Raymond Pitcher snapped.

“No, you shut up!” Mr. Pitcher told his son. “I want to hear this and you are going to sit there and listen. You’re in enough trouble as it is!”

“Go on Kevin,” Mrs. Reach consoled her son.

“Amelia Jenson was talking with her and Ray said that it would be nice to catch up. He’s been talking about the angel since they hit the news and everyone knew that Trixie’s mom was partnered with Lucifer Morningstar. I kinda wanted to know what he was like, so I went along with them,” Kevin whispered. “Then Jackson elbowed her, and she went down. They just started going for her. I stood there in shock for a moment and I went for Ray. He tripped me and I landed on Espinoza. I think she thought I was going for her ribs so she curled up.”

That matched what both Amelia and Trixie had reported, Joe thought. They would be able to check the school camera’s once the warrant went through but he didn’t think the kid was lying. The anger on the other two’s faces spoke volumes. Amelia had even told them that it had seemed out of character for the young man.

“Then Amelia tried to pull Ray off her and he punched her. She ran off to get the teachers and I tackled Jackson before he could kick her in the head. Ray got a few good blows in before Jackson got me off him. That was when the teacher’s stepped got there.” Kevin didn’t look at his mother or his ‘friends’.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” said mother demanded. “Why weren’t we called by the school?”

“They sent us back to class and told us we weren’t allowed to say anything,” Kevin admitted. “Ms. Benson said that we wouldn’t be in trouble if we kept quiet. I didn’t know what to do!”

That was worse than Joe had been warned. It was bad enough that they hadn’t punished the two instigator’s or even talked to all three of them. Telling the kids they weren’t in trouble if they stayed quiet was a step further.

“Would you be willing to let Kevin testify in court? Trixie Espinoza’s parents are suing the school for their mistreatment of their daughter. Apparently, there have been a few instances in the past where the school has allowed a unknown adult to remove her from the premise. One resulted in her kidnapping and near death by a corrupt cop,” Joe told them all. He’d been given permission by Dan Espinoza to released those details if needed.

“Oh my god,” Mrs. Reach whispered. “Of course. Kevin?”

“Yeah,” the boy nodded. “I can do that.”

There it was, Joe thought with smug triumph. They had their second witness, one of the group of boys, willing to turn on the school. With Amelia, there could have been arguing over the validity of her story. Kevin Reach added another layer to their case. “We’ll have to check the back camera’s to confirm your story, however, I think that Mr. Espinoza and Ms. Decker would be willing to drop the charges against you in exchange for your testimony.”

“That’s not fair!” Jackson Andrews shouted. “He was there too!”

“From the sounds of it, he was trying to break it up,” Mr. Andrews snapped at his son. Mrs. Andrews looked even more resigned than before. “You’ve all but admitted that you were attacking that girl right now! As it is, I don’t blame her parents for pressing charges! We might have managed to get you off before, Jackson, but this is more serious than a minor theft charge or allegations of bullying! This is assault against the child of two police officers! You could end up in Juvie!”

Joe wasn’t surprised at the lack of response that the kid gave that. He’d seen teens like this before, caught up in superiority and convinced that nothing could touch them. “I’ll need you to sign a few papers agreeing to have Kevin testify,” he told the Reach’s. “I’ll be in contact once the court day is decided.”

“Of course,” Mrs. Reach told him. “Anything that girl’s family needs.”

“Can you tell her that I’m sorry?” Kevin asked him. “I didn’t know what they were going to do and I think I hurt her when I fell.”

His fall was probably responsible for the bruises on her side, Joe realized. They were out of place from the other injuries and the girl hadn’t known what had caused them. That lined up with all three stories. “I’ll pass it on,” he told them both.

“As for you two, I expect you’ll be delivered the charges against you soon,” he told the other sullen boys. These two had no remorse and it was sickening to see. “I suggest contacting you own lawyers and preparing.”

The four parents nodded, looking downtrodden and resigned. As they left, Joe jotted down a few notes in the files he was keeping for this case. Everything here had been done off record and couldn’t be used against the boys. That didn’t mean that Joe couldn’t send a tip to the officers in charge of their cases about possible past crimes. Jackson Andrews had the making of a career criminal and it was for the best if that was nipped in the bud now. Sadly, Raymond Pitcher was probably going to end up worse off than Jackson in all this. There were going to be people that claimed that it was Raymond that pulled Jackson into this in the first place.

That wasn’t Joe’s problem, however. He couldn’t do anything to change the poor choices those boys had made. It was his job to represent the injured party and to seek justice against those that had allowed this to happen.

Not what he had expected, making a deal with the Devil. That was for sure.

* * *

Linda Martin had not been on that had expected to ever have kids. Sure, she had always thought that the idea of them were appealing, she just had never pictured it happening to her.

After Reese, Linda had mostly written off having children.

The positive on her test stared back at her.

She hadn’t thought anything of it before she had missed her period. Even that wasn’t really unusual. There had been a few times where she went weeks after her period was supposed to start before blood appeared. She’d though that this was just going to be another instance where she’d wake up to find all her sheets and blankets were covered in blood. Annoying, yes. Not all that alarming, however.

Then she’d thrown up for the last three mornings in a row. That wasn’t usual for her. Linda almost never threw up, even when she was sick. Worse, she had no fever or any other symptoms.

And her period was two weeks late.

With apprehension, she’d bought her tests and waited for the results. That pink positive sign was now staring back at her, mocking.

This was not the time to be pregnant, she thought with rising dread. The world was only just coming around to God and Angels being real. Who knew how they would react to a Nephilim baby?

And it was a Nephilim because in the last few months, Linda had only slept with one person: Amenadiel.

She was having the first Nephilim in who knew how many years.

Linda, to be frank, was panicking. She barely knew what to do with a human baby! How was she going to take care of a half-human, half-angel baby?!

Oh God, her baby’s grandpa was literally _God_!

She needed to tell Amenadiel.

How as she going to tell Amenadiel?!

They’d used protection each time, spermicide and a condom! That was supposed to have prevent something like this from happening! Hell, she’d only used a condom with Lucifer and had been perfectly fine!

This was a nightmare.

Except, underneath that little bit of panic was that happy glow that Linda had heard mother’s talk about. She’d never put much stock in it before. Linda hadn’t really expected to ever find herself in the place of being a mother, at all. Still, the idea of having a child was appealing just as much as terrifying.

She was going to have to tell the resident celestials, that was for sure. But, Linda consoled herself, maybe not today.

Today, Linda was going to panic and eat ice cream. She was also, she sighed, going to poor out all her liquor. There would be no drinking during this, that was for sure. She didn’t want to find out what that would do to a half-angel baby.

“I am so not ready for this,” she told the air around her, a bit of hysteria in her voice.


End file.
